Gangster Story

Whether you love or hate it, Bonnie and Clyde was, and remains to this day, a ground-breaking film in the history of American cinema, and should be praised hugely for that alone. Aside from the re-defining techniques of showing violence on-screen and the depiction of main characters who are far from typical heroes, it contains career-boosting roles for many actors, and comes from a very talented director of the time, Arthur Penn.

The story follows the titular real-life bandit couple of Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker. The story traces them from first meeting, and follows their crime-spree throughout a Depression-era America with their gang, robbing banks, evading police and creating a notorious reputation for themselves. The film is slightly romanticised, depicting the couple as young, foolish kids who don't really seem to realise what they're getting into, but the violent and unpredictable undertone and the impressive period detail ensures an edge that lifts it above typical gangster movies, and always assures us that what's happening isn't remotely romantic, while granting the characters and events gritty depth.

Penn is on fine form from the beginning, and handles a range of different scenes with ease and a huge amount of skill, from thrilling banks-robberies and shootouts, to the more intimate character scenes, in particular those between Bonnie and Clyde, which depict one of the most interesting and unusual screen couples to date. The cinematography and editing are used to huge effect, and resulted in some of the most ground-breaking scenes of the 60's, while the folk-style soundtrack gives an air of humour.

The film tends to play a bit fast-and-loose with the facts- like condensing several real-life members of the gang into the single character C.W. Moss, and neglecting the fact that for nearly a year, Bonnie was almost unable to walk due to a car crash, but writers David Newman and Robert Benton can be forgiven for these inaccuracies considering they succeeded in crafting a story that is both thrilling and exciting as well as tragic and thought-provoking.

But the story would be nothing without first-rate cast it boasts. Warren Beatty as Clyde excels in the multi-layered, dramatic role that he had sought after for so long, and more than succeeded in his attempt to be taken seriously as an actor. Beatty's depiction of a confident, intelligent, but naive young man looking to make his name and fortune is spot-on, and while romanticised to a certain degree, is never glorified. His Clyde is more than matched by Faye Dunaway's Bonnie, who gives a hugely convincing portrayal of an everyday girl getting caught up in something she should never have become part of. The two have an excellent and very unusual chemistry, even by today's standards, and work together brilliantly as a man not used to such intimacy and a woman desperate to live the romantic life of an outlaw with him.

The supporting players may not be quite as strong as the leads, but hold their own quite well, particularly Gene Hackman as Buck. In my opinion one of the greatest actors of all time, Hackman gives a brilliant performance that's both spirited and grounded as Clyde's brother, expressing the same wide-eyed desire for the life of an outlaw as the others and maintains a hugely convincing brotherly relationship with Beatty throughout. Michael Pollard also performs well as gang member C.W, whose quiet demeanour assures his character stands out, despite being relatively small. Estelle Parsons suffers with Blanche, a supremely annoying character that personally I found too irritating. But in fairness, that's precisely the intention behind the character, and Parsons certainly manages to convey it. Throw in one of Gene Wilder's first screen performances and you have an extremely talented and interesting cast.

But aside from the great cast and direction, the truly ground-breaking, incredibly influential aspect of the film is much simpler and much more important- the depiction of on-screen violence and the impact it makes. For the first time, when people were shot or killed, it looked like it hurt. Bad. Penn and his crew pushed boundaries that before, hadn't even been considered. Suddenly, violence was being portrayed in a gritty, shocking and unsettling way. For the first time, screen violence was truly violent. This is what made the story of a group of young and naive people deciding to become criminals so powerful- the fact that we really saw what that really meant. We see what it's like to be shot, and this helps to drive home their story with such impact and power. This was the first step taken that shaped the entire future of motion-picture, and inspired other films to follow it's example, such as The Wild Bunch, and later films like MASH and Jaws that continued to push the limits of what could be done on screen.

Now, I am definitely NOT a fan of gore or extreme violence. Give me E.T and Toy Story before all the Saws and Texas Chainsaw Massacres in the world. But that doesn't mean violence in films is wrong. Violence can be a means of driving home a point, or setting a film's atmosphere, or at times it can even just be pretty damn satisfying. But whether you're a pacifist or a gore-hound, it can't be denied that violence in films is prominent, and many times it's done well, while other times it's not. This film revolutionised it. And more than that, it gave film-makers the influence to do other new things, and was the perfect film to kick-start the revolutionary era of the late 60's and 70's, and inspired them to use their own ideas rather than what would make money.

This is a very special film. Personally, not one of my favourites, but it deserves a good 8 out of 10 purely for its historical relevance and powerhouse cast. It may not be perfect, but if you haven't seen it, see it, and know that you're watching history being made.

"Bonnie and Clyde" is a real innovative film in the fact that it does contain some extremely violent content. 1967 was a different time in the cinema. This film was one of the first, if not the first, that really showed violence the way it would be in real life. People bleed when they get shot and they die in gruesome fashions. The film itself is the somewhat true story of the infamous bank robbers who terrorized parts of Texas and Oklahoma in the early-1930s before they were finally terminated by the authorities. Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Gene Hackman, and Michael J. Pollard all received Oscar nominations. Estelle Parsons won one in the Supporting Actress category. Dunaway and Hackman proved to be the finds of the decade and Beatty became the first real star to be an instrumental part in the actual production of the film. Watch for Gene Wilder in a somewhat funny sequence during the course of the action. Unrelenting and overall exceptional, "Bonnie and Clyde" is easily one of the top 10 films of the 1960s and one of the greatest films of all time. 5 stars out of 5.

The picture tells the lurid criminal story of a famous couple of delinquents, detailing a mythologized biography. In the time of the Great Depression , Clyde Barrow (top-notch Warren Beatty) recently out of jail meets Bonnie Parker(gorgeous Faye Dunaway). She was stark naked, yelling at him out the window while he tried to steal her mother's car. In a matter of minutes they stole a store , fired a few shots and then stole somebody else's car. At that point they had not yet been introduced , subsequently both of whom become usual bank robbers. The antiheroes go across the American Midwest and South robbing banks and stores during the 30s , embarking in a criminal rampage . They form a criminal gang , along with accomplices as Cyde's brother named Buck (incomparable Gene Hackman) and his spouse (Estelle Parsons was Oscar winner), besides an unexperienced young (unforgettable Michael J Pollard). But they're mercilessly pursued by a revenger sheriff (Denver Pyle). "The strangest damned gang you ever heard of. They're young. They're in love. They rob banks." There has never been... You have never seen... a motion picture like this one! They're young... they're in love... and they kill people !.

This classic movie displays drama , a peculiar love story , noisy action, violence and being quite entertaining . A brilliantly directed movie , a groundbreaking film that chronicles the short lives of America's most infamous criminals. In spite of thirty years from film-making still hold well and remains interesting . In the wake of the recently released Sam Peckinpah's Wild Bunch, the flick is plenty of grisly violence including a really violent ending that was extremely polemic. Colorful and glittering cinematography by cameraman Burnett Guffey was Oscar winner, and atmospheric musical score by Charles Strouse . Excellent art direction by Dean Tavoularis and evocative costumes by Theodora Van Runkle. The motion picture was magnificently directed by Arthur Penn . The picture spawned pretty imitators, and created a sub-genre about Great Depression outlaws, such as : Dillinger , Pretty Boy Floyd, Machine Gun Kelly, among others. And other updatings about Clyde Borrow and Charlie Parker life are the following ones : ¨Bonnie Parker story¨(1958) by William Witney with Dorothy Provine and a rendition for TV (1992) by Gary Hoffman with Tracy Needham and Dana Ashbrook.

I wasn't surprise to find out that Francois Truffaut and Jean Luc Godard had been seriously considered to helm the tragic tale of Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker. Fortunately Arthur Penn took over. I say fortunately, not because I think any less of Truffaut or Godard but I'm sure nobody could have made this glorious American classic but Arthur Penn. Somehow there is an air of Frenchness permeating every frame even if Bonnie and Clyde is profoundly American. For a foreigner, like me, America has always been a Country to admire even if puzzling. Guns and Bibles. Violence with a poetic aura that it's as startling as it is disturbing. Warren Beatty is superb as Clyde - the real life character was homosexual but for the film he is impotent - more acceptable? Amazing to think of it now. Faye Dunaway became an icon, deservedly so. Gene Hackman, the extraordinary Estelle Parsons, Michael J Pollard and even Gene Wilder complete the cast of this extraordinary American film.

'Bonnie and Clyde' is not a film about two real people famous for so many bank robberies and murders across the big country... It shows a new kind of fury in which people could be harm by weapons... The film, however, manages to carry the impression that these two youngsters took great pleasure in robbing banks and stores... It also suggests that it was very easy for them to fool the law—as certainly occurred in real life... Though merited punishment caught up with them, audiences laughed at their remarkable deeds and wanted them to get away...

In 'Bonnie and Clyde,' Penn created an emotional state, an image of the 1930s filtered through his 1960s sensibility... The sense of this period reflects Penn's vision of how the 1930s Depression-era truly was, and for all the crazy style and banjo score, this vision is greatly private...

What is also personal about 'Bonnie and Clyde' and constitutes its incomparable quality, is its unusual mixture of humor and fear, its poetry of violation of the law as something that is gaiety and playfulness...

'Bonnie and Clyde' is both true and abstract... It is a gangster movie and a comedy-romance... It is an amusing film that turns bloody, a love affair that ends with tragedy...

A modification between pleasure and catastrophic events is important to the essential aim of the film... In their second bank robbery, a daring and joyful action goes morosely embittered when Clyde is forced to kill an executive in the bank, and real blood pours out from his body...

Bonnie and Clyde take self-gratification posing for photographs with their prisoners… But when surrounded by detectives in a motel, they turn into vindictive bandits struggling for their lives... C. W. Moss, specially, brings to mind Baby Face Nelson, when he murders policemen with a blazing machine gun...

One of the stimulating moments in the film happens when Clyde chases Bonnie through a yellow corn field, while a cloud transverses the sun and slowly shadows the landscape... Here the characteristic quality of the Texas countryside and the vague aspect of the story are beautifully communicated......

Penn's masterpiece nominated for ten Academy Awards, including Best Picture, won two Oscars, one for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and another for Best Cinematography...